5 Seconds of Summer is our own boy band

THEY’RE being compared to One Direction and Justin Bieber but new boy band, 5 Seconds of Summer, have something else endearing about them – they’re from the Hawkesbury.

5SOS, as some of their fans know them, are becoming a huge favourite with young girls around the nation, attracting more than three million views on YouTube and over 49,000 fans on Facebook so far.

Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood, all 16, and Ashton Irwin, 18 came tog-ether a year ago and have since produced and recorded music covers and now their own music.

“It all started out with Luke uploading cover videos to YouTube about a year and a half ago,” the boys said to the Gazette. “Then Michael and Calum who went to school with Luke joined the band and started doing more covers together. We had a concert booked in Sydney around December but realised we didn’t have a drummer, so we kinda knew Ashton through a few people and asked him to join the band and it worked out really well.”

They are the youngest online band doing their best to make it in the music industry. Their upcoming tour, which starts in Adelaide this Saturday and ends in Melbourne next weekend, sold out within minutes, just as tickets for British boy band One Direction did in Australia.

“We couldn’t believe it – we went from playing little shows to 20 people, to selling out thousands of tickets in under two minutes, all within two or three months,” the boys said.

With their education still their number one priority, the boys said “it’s pretty hard, espec-ially for Ashton with his HSC. Our parents are pretty strict with missing days off and our manager makes sure we aren’t missing out on much school time”.

Ashton’s principal at Richmond High, Howard Wolfers said he was very proud of the boys.

“Clearly they have a very clear idea of direction in the music industry...It is a wonderful thing to see, you can only wish them well,” Mr Wolfers told the Gazette.

The boys said they wanted to collaborate with their favourite bands one day – Blink 182, All Time Low and Sleeping with Sirens.

The boys handed out advice to other bands telling them to “work hard and stay true and honest to the people that support you”.

“We have worked really hard to get where we are, we started out doing four rehearsals a week and staying up until past midnight talking to our fans on Facebook and Twitter,” they said. “We still interact with our fans every day and we think that’s a big reason we’re as successful as we are.”